Make Sure Your Child Eats a Balanced, Healthy Diet

Every child needs appropriate amounts of
calories, proteins, minerals and vitamins
to grow. The best way to ensure kids
get what they need while
maintaining or losing
weight is to provide a
variety of nutritious foods
that are low in fat and sugar.
To find out how much of
each food group your
body requires in order
to meet your personal
needs, check out

• Aim for 2 cups of fruit and 21/2 cups of vegetables each day. You can gradually build up
to this amount. A good goal to try: eat fruit with each meal for a week.
• Reduce fat. Opt for low-fat substitutes:
•Low-fat dairy - fat-free or low-fat milk (after age 2), cheese with 2 to 6 grams of fat per
ounce
•Lean meats and poultry - 95% lean ground beef or turkey; remove visible fat from meat;
remove skin from poultry
•Reduced-fat salad dressings and mayonnaise; light tub margarine
•Desserts - angel food cake, low-fat ice cream or frozen yogurt, animal crackers, vanilla
wafers, gingersnaps, graham crackers
• Eat sugary foods in moderation. If your child eats a healthy diet, one sweet a day is fine.
•Drink water, fat-free or low-fat milk (after age 2) instead of high-calorie, sugary drinks
•Check ingredients on nutrition labels. Foods with sugar listed as one of the first three or four
ingredients may be high in sugar and should be eaten in moderation
• Eat healthy snacks. Keep healthy foods on-hand for snacks. Good snack ideas include:
•Fresh fruit •Cereal with low-fat milk
•Vegetable or noodle soup •Graham crackers with low-fat hot chocolate
•Raw vegetables with low-fat dip •Small bagel spread lightly with peanut butter
• Serve appropriate portions. Oversized portions often contribute to weight gain. To get an
idea of the right portions to serve your child, it might help to visualize the appropriate serving
size by comparing it to objects you’re familiar with:
Food Average Serving Size What it looks like
Meat 2-3 ounces Deck of cards
Pasta or rice 1/2 cup Tennis ball or ice cream scoop
Bread 1 slice Computer disk
Peanut butter 2 tablespoons Ping pong ball
Vegetables 1/2 cup Tennis ball or ice cream scoop
Cheese 1 ounce Four dice